April 1st in December

Obama Administration Continues to Provide Exemptions from ObamaCare

The number of waivers is now up to 222, including many unions. If he truly believes his plan is so wonderful and necessary for the basic needs of our country, why does he continue to provide exemptions to those who say it will be harmful to their employees? Why are the unions who mobilized their members to attend town hall meetings and demand that all of us be covered by this plan, now request to be excluded?

Obama Justice Department Sues to Protect Islamic Ritual

Earlier the Obama Justice Department dropped charges against the Black Panthers who were convicted of voter intimidation. Several DOJ insiders reported the order came from top department bosses who were political appointees of Obama. Now the DOJ files charges against a Chicago school who refused a teachers leave request to travel to Mecca to perform the Islamic Hajj.

WASHINGTON – The federal government sued a suburban Chicago school district Monday for denying a Muslim middle school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca that is a central part of her religion.

In a civil rights case, the department said the school district in Berkeley, Ill., denied the request of Safoorah Khan on grounds that her requested leave was unrelated to her professional duties and was not set forth in the contract between the school district and the teachers union. In doing so the school district violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to reasonably accommodate her religious practices, the government said.

Khan wanted to perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia which every adult Muslim is supposed to make at least once in a lifetime if they are physically and financially able to. Millions go each year.

Khan started as a middle school teacher for Berkeley School District 87 — about 15 miles west of Chicago — in 2007. In 2008, she asked for almost three weeks of unpaid leave to perform the Hajj. After the district twice denied her request, Khan wrote the board that "based on her religious beliefs, she could not justify delaying performing hajj," and resigned shortly thereafter, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that in California...

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- An Orange County inmate who disliked salami got special meals after declaring his religious belief in the Festivus holiday celebrated on the television show "Seinfeld."

The Orange County Register reports Monday that 38-year-old convicted drug dealer Malcolm Alarmo King asked for kosher meals at the Theo Lacy jail to maintain his healthy physique.

But sheriff's officials reserve kosher meals for inmates with a religious need.

Judge Derek G. Johnson demanded a religious reason for King to receive the meals and defense attorney Fred Thiagarajah cited his client's devotion to Festivus -- a holiday celebrated on "Seinfeld" with an aluminum pole and the airing of grievances.

Mr. President, Are You Listening?

From Investor's Business Daily:

"Please, Mr. President, you and your economic team of born-again Keynesian central planners have had your chance.

Remember having to fire Christina Romer, among others, for forecasting your $800 billion stimulus bill would keep the jobless rate below 8%? Now, private economists are forecasting a 10% rate for next year. For the first time, the U.S. is facing Euro-style structural unemployment. This is no time to be raising taxes.

Yet, in a sign that ideology still trumps reality, Romer's replacement carries on the discredited tax-and-spend torch.

White House chief economist Austan Goolsbee remains opposed to renewing tax cuts for individuals earning $200,000 a year or more, demagogued by House Democrats who last week voted against it as a "millionaires' tax cut" and even "billionaires' tax cut."

"Why borrow $700 billion to pay for tax cuts that are not going to go into the economy immediately?" Goolsbee protested even in the wake of the depressing jobs report.

In fact, studies show cuts in individual tax rates encourage new business startups and new job creation. They fueled hiring in last decade's recovery as well as in the '80s. And they didn't have to be "paid for." Federal receipts soared as the tax base expanded.

An unrepentant Obama insists the lopsided election was a referendum on the economy and not a repudiation of his policies. He says voters were "not thinking clearly" when they voted for change.

Who's not thinking clearly, Mr. President?"